Isaac forces Nicholls, SLC teams to alter travel plans

Nicholls State isn’t the only Southland Conference football team making contingency travel plans due to Hurricane Isaac’s arrival.

Teddy RenoisStaff Writer

Nicholls State isn’t the only Southland Conference football team making contingency travel plans due to Hurricane Isaac’s arrival.With the anticipation of high winds and rain in southeast Louisiana for 24 to 36 hours, McNeese State, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana as well as Nicholls have changed or have a plan to change their travel arrangements for the first weekend of the college football season.Nicholls State is scheduled to face Oregon State in Corvalis, Ore., at 2 p.m. Saturday.Nicholls coach Charlie Stubbs said he has been in discussions with athletic director Rob Bernardi and university president Stephen Hulbert about contingency plans in case changes have to be made.“Right now, everything is still a go, but the unfortunate thing is we haven’t been able to practice since Saturday,” Stubbs said. “Things have been moving fast around here due to the weather, and school was closed on Monday. I have a lot of players that remember (Hurricane) Katrina. I wasn’t here at the time, but it was major devastation and a lot of their parents are sensitive to that.”Stubbs said most of his players are off campus attending to matters with their families, and the few that have remained will stay in a shelter.When Isaac comes through, the next phase is to evaluate any damage to facilities and to figure out if and when the players can return.“I am in touch with the players and coaches, and we are preparing the best we can,” Stubbs said. “If the weather doesn’t bring in major damage, maybe I can gather the team on Thursday and we can have a walk-through. We want to make the game, but we want to make the right decision.”The Colonels are scheduled to fly out of Louis Armstrong International Airport at 10 a.m. Friday, but if the airport is closed, Stubbs said they have looked into busing to Lake Charles and flying to Oregon from there.One more option being consider is playing the game after each team completes their remaining schedule.Stubbs said he would agree to postponing the game, but there would be some stipulations that could get in the way.“I have suggested that, but there are a few stipulations,” Stubbs said. “One is if we do well in the conference and make the playoffs, we would play in the playoffs. The other is if Oregon State reaches the Pac-12 championship game, they would play in that game. I would be all for it if it didn’t work out this week.”Southeastern Louisiana is also scheduled to leave from New Orleans on Friday for Saturday’s game against Missouri.If the Lions can’t fly out of New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana sports information director Matt Sullivan said a plan is in place to have the charter plane meet the team at the nearest airport that is accepting flights.Northwestern State coach Bradley Dale Peveto said the Demons busing to Lubbock, Texas, for Saturday’s game against Texas Tech.Even though Natchitoches will not feel the effects of Isaac until later in the week, Peveto said the team will probably leave a day early.“We were going to leave on Thursday anyway, but we may leave (Wednesday). We just have to see what happens with the storm when it hits and what happens at the university,” Peveto said. “We will cross that bridge when we need to, but I was at LSU when Katrina hit and understand the issues. We have a plan and will make it through.”McNeese didn’t have the luxury of waiting out the storm to change its travel plans.With a Thursday night game at Middle Tennessee State, McNeese coach Matt Viator said changes were made on Monday. The Cowboys were scheduled to fly out today, but they flew on Tuesday night to avoid the bad weather.“We’ve been there and through it all before. We are leaving a day early and made that adjustment on Monday,” Viator said. “We decided to leave on Tuesday, so we had to move quickly on some things to get things finished and ready to go.”